Day Four: Modified Daniel Fast

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

I finally got a morning to sleep in! Praise the Lord! But of course, because of my son and daughter-in-law getting a newborn foster placement, I was too excited to sleep very much! J That’s a good reason to sleep late, though! (More news on that later... but no names or pics, since they're in the foster system for now.)

I enjoyed the granola I had made yesterday for breakfast today. I ate it with coconut milk (still not a fan!), and decided tomorrow I will add more raisins, dried cranberries, or dried blueberries. I kept walking through the kitchen, struggling with the temptation to make a cup of coffee. I REALLY wanted a cup of my decaf candy bar coffee from Barista de Casa today! But… I skipped it, and reminded myself of my commitment to focus on God during this time of depriving myself.

During the morning, I worked on some baked potato crisps. I cut the potatoes with my apple slicer, then coated them with olive oil, garlic, onion, and salt, and baked them until they were crisp. Meanwhile, I also made a version of sugar-free ketchup that would work well with them. The only modification to the classic Daniel Fast would be that the ketchup called for apple cider vinegar. ACV is not on the version of the fast that I am basing my own efforts on, because of the fermentation, but I have modified the fast in a few ways already, in order to work best with my limitations, so I didn’t feel that was a commitment the Lord was asking of me. The end result was pretty good, although McDonald’s fries would definitely be better! 

After snitching on the potatoes and eating a few of the cut broccoli and cauliflower (still leftover from Sunday), I wasn’t hungry for lunch, so I rested until mid-afternoon, when my kids brought their cousins home from school because of my sister’s surgery today. I had prepared their snacks (PBH and juice boxes), while eating my celery and healthy peanut butter so I wouldn’t be tempted to lick the knife. (Ever have that problem?) Fortunately, all the kids think of apples and veggie sticks as great treats, so it wasn’t hard to avoid bad stuff while they were here.

I made the Black and White Chili from the Daniel Fast book for supper, and it was FABULOUS! I didn’t have as many cans of beans as it called for, but I threw in the cup or so of leftover taco fixin’s from Monday night, and also a couple of scoops of the pureed veggies from making veggie broth yesterday. With the three Welch kids here, they and my three ate every bite and scraped the pan clean! It was very tasty, and we all enjoyed it immensely. My kids even suggested that I make it again! Wow! Of course, they were eating it with sour cream and grated cheddar, while I was eating mine with smashed avocado, to try to convince myself it was creamy. Ah well…. 

In my devos today, I read Deuteronomy 32:39. Part of the verse says, “It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal…” This was a good reminder to me that not only does He know my frame, but He plans my health according to His glory. 

I would never desire to be healed, if I can bring more glory to Him by my illness.

 But at the same time, I can trust Him for healing, if it is within His plan, because He is the I am who can do this for me!